PARIS
\nAround 2,000 people defied a ban to join a memorial rally in central Paris on Saturday for a young black man who died in police custody, while marches took place throughout France to denounce police brutality, as tensions run high after days of rioting engulfed the country.
\nSeven years after the death of Adama Traore, his sister had planned to lead an annual commemorative march north of Paris in Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise. But fearful of reigniting recent unrest sparked by the police killing of 17-year-old Nahel M. at a traffic stop near Paris, a court ruled the chance of public disturbance was too high to allow the march to proceed.
\nIn a video posted on Twitter, Assa Traore, Adama\u2019s older sister, denounced the decision. \u201cThe government has decided to add fuel to the fire\u201d and \u201cnot to respect the death of my little brother\u201d, she said.
\nShe instead attended a rally in central Paris\u2019s Place de la Republique to tell \u201cthe whole world that our dead have the right to exist, even in death\u201d. \u201cWe are marching for the youth to denounce police violence. They want to hide our deaths,\u201d she said at the rally, also attended by several lawmakers. \u201cThey authorise marches by neo-Nazis but they don\u2019t allow us to march. France cannot give us moral lessons. Its police is racist and violent,\u201d she said.
\nThe Paris rally had also been banned on the grounds that it could disrupt public order and a legal case has been opened against Assa Traore for organising the event, police said. \u201cPublic liberties are losing ground little by little,\u201d said Sandrine Rousseau, a lawmaker from the EELV Green party.
\nJean-Luc Melenchon, the outspoken head of the radical leftist France Unbowed party, castigated the government on Twitter.
\n\u201cFrom prohibition to repression… the leader is taking France to a regime we have already seen. Danger. Danger,\u201d he tweeted, referring to the World War II regime of Vichy leader Philippe Petain who collaborated with the Nazis.
\nMany at the rally shouted \u201cJustice for Nahel\u201d before calmly dispersing later in the afternoon. However, one of Assa Traore\u2019s brothers was arrested on suspicion of violence against a person holding public authority, police said, without giving details.
\nAround 30 demonstrations against police violence also took place across France, including in the southern port city of Marseille and in Strasbourg in the east. Authorities in Lille banned a gathering.
\nGrief and anger
\nSeveral trade unions, political parties and associations had called on supporters to join the march for Traore as France reels from allegations of institutionalised racism in its police ranks following Nahel M\u2019s shooting.
\nTraore, who was 24 years old, died shortly after his arrest in 2016, sparking several nights of unrest that played out similarly to the week-long rioting that erupted across the country in the wake of the point-blank shooting of Nahel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS Around 2,000 people defied a ban to join a memorial rally in central Paris on Saturday for a young black man who died in police custody, while marches took place throughout France to denounce police brutality, as tensions run high after days of rioting engulfed the country. Seven years after the death of Adama […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342275,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-342262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n